• Pony Community Soapbox #100 - Happy 100! Generation 5 Ideas, Ocellus Bias, and More!


    100 Soapboxes? That's pretty crazy. We might need to take a break for a bit though, as I think we've run out of topics to discuss and it might need some extra Quality control lovin going forward. What do you all think? Is Soapbox in need of a makeover?

    Community soapbox time, where opinions from around the fandom are dropped down below for you all to discuss and debate! Expect these posts normally when not late every Tuesday at 2:00 PM MST And now Saturday at 2:00 PM MST. To submit your own, see this post.

    Headlines for the week: 

    • Happy Soapbox #100!
    • Bold leaps into generation 5- What could work
    • Did Discord Create the Everfree Forest?
    • Why Ocellus is My Favorite of the Student Six
    • Japan Should At Least Release The Movie Straight to VOD!

    And get your soapboxes below!




    Happy Soapbox #100!
    By: MegaSean45

    Sup brahs? I'm going to take a little break with my series finale speculations to celebrate #100 of pony soapboxes!

    There have been so many soapbox posts made from clops, to discussions on gender, to earth ponies being important, to the made-up opinions the show staff have to the show or the fandom, to no zebras at the School of Friendship, to opinions on Glimglam being an alicorn princess, to saying how awesome batponies and Trixie are, to my constant Spike speculations! As a community, we used these soapboxes to discuss our opinions, speculations, and point of views on not just the show, but the whole fandom entirely, or even the past gens of MLP! There is no wrong way to make a soapbox (k that's a lie lol)! It is nice spreading our POVs across the fandom, cause you'll never know! You'll have other people agreeing to you, and you'd feel satisfaction knowing you gave someone a new outlook on the series, or just agreed cause they already knew! Not everyone agrees of course, and that's ok! Giving inspiration to one person is better than no one! Because thanks to Sethisto, he allowed us a chance to have our voices heard, and to share our thoughts across the fandom!

    Thank you, Seth, for these wonderful opportunities, and allowing most of our posts to extend over the 200-word limit! ;) And Happy Soapbox #100, everypony! Here's to 100 more in the incoming future! :D


    Bold leaps into generation 5- What could work
    By: Nightmare Muffin


    With Japan being open to embracing MLP again, and Sanrio stepping up to collab and crossover with Hasbro with their “Little Twin Stars- KikiRara” characters, I have some hope that there will be future alliances with Sanrio as well. Ideally, with their “Aggresive Retsuko” franchise, which has taken the internet by storm. My hope is that going into MLP gen5, Hasbro can either learn from how this show was handled so well to adult audiences and characterization, or work with the Aggretsuko writers to produce something fantastic and also aimed at older audiences. If Hasbro is, in fact, planning to pitch the ponies into a more mature world for such audiences, there’s no doubt that taking note from how Sanrio handled Aggresive Retsuko and working with its creators is the way to go.


    Did Discord Create the Everfree Forest?
    By: Chad Wuttke


    As most of us probably know by now, Discord did try to bend Equestria to his own chaotic image over 1,000 years prior to the events of the series before he was initially defeated by the Royal Sisters. We also know that prior to his original downfall that he planted his plunder seeds, which wouldn't supposedly kick in until the Season 4 two-part premiere when the Tree of Harmony started dying. However, what if the seeds were also responsible for the creation of the Everfree Forest itself during his absence?

    Given the amount of time that passed between that point in time and the two-part pilot, the seeds might have started to work their magic from behind the scenes, allowing both the plants and animals
    of the Everfree Forest to form and grow within its unnatural environment. However, if it wasn't for the Tree of Harmony, the seeds would've taken full effect much earlier than expected, thus causing the plunder vines to overwhelm Ponyville and beyond before anypony would have a chance to act otherwise. That being said, given how the seeds came from the Lord of Chaos himself, it's also possible that they were responsible for altering the weather patterns within the Everfree Forest's area. While all of this may not be a big deal for us as it is normal here on Earth, it's anything but normal in the land of Equestria and its inhabitants. You could even say that it's...chaotic.


    Why Ocellus is My Favorite of the Student Six
    By: Chad Wuttke


    (Credit goes to FrownFactory for the image.)

    The Season 8 premiere not only pushed our main cast into a new era for the show, but it also introduced us to a new group of six unique characters, all of them being different species. After having watched the premiere twice, the dust had pretty much settled on my end in terms of who my favorite student was, and that turned out to be the Changeling of the group, young Ocellus. Why is she my favorite? Well, let me explain.

    Ocellus has proven to be quite academically inclined among her friends (similar to Twilight I might add), and while very shy at first, she did open up to her fellow peers shortly afterwards. I can actually kinda relate to her in this case since I was focused more on my studies than socializing during my final years in high school and my time at college. Also, it goes without saying that she looks and sounds adorable.

    Now, I wanna hear from you. Who is your favorite Student Six character and why? Let me know in the comments!


    Japan Should At Least Release The Movie Straight to VOD!
    By: Tadashi (a.k.a. FirePuppy)

    Recently, South Korea has released the film directly to video on demand (VOD). What a miracle that was! In my opinion, this is something Japan should do as well rather than even refusing to even rate the movie at all. I mean, look how lenient their rating system is! They gave their own G rating to quite a lot of adult-oriented films around the world.

    A direct-to-VOD release would also be a great idea because since nearly three years ago, they've released all four Equestria Girls movies on Netflix, and for the fact that most movies that don't get a theatrical release (or if their theatrical release was canceled) can always get released directly to VOD services. All in all, My Little Pony: The Movie is a perfectly kid-friendly film that does not even deserve to share the same fate with its canceled television series for Japanese audiences! But despite any of these facts, nothing's happening.